Sunday, January 26, 2014

The Regular Life:
Paean to Cartoonists

You know I’m a
life-long comics fan. I’ve come across such brilliant, erudite comics lately. The
big question is this—how on earth do you cartoonists sustain the work of
producing daily and Sunday strips and still come up with clever, funny twists
and angles? You’re appreciated, you know, all of you.

Did you see the Argyle Sweater with C-3PO looking at a
Sudoku that’s in binary? Nothing but ones and zeroes. Total hoot.

Love the play on
words in a sign sporting a frog silhouette in a recent Bizarro: No Parking, Violators Will Be Toad.

I’m always on
the hunt for cartoons related to my CryptoMania:
Teleporting into Greek and Latin with the CryptoKids, exploring Greek and
Latin roots.

Two Bizarro rhinos, one with a normal-sized
horn and the other with a tiny horn, are chatting. The latter says, “Laugh all
you want, but there a reason they call it “rhinoplasty,” bro. Har har, rhino being “nose” in Greek; plasty being “mold” or “form.”

A recent Sunday Baby Blues has the kids on the lawn,
cloud-gazing and naming the clouds. Zoe points out an “altocumulus
lenticularis.” Well, alto is high and
cumulus is “heap” or “pile.” So think
of a heap of laundry—flat on the bottom. And cumulus clouds do feature a flat
base. But here’s the cool thing—lenti
is lens. So go to Internet images. Round, flat clouds like a sticky bun or a UFO,
or, well, a lens! Check out these others: “cirrocumulus undulatus” (there’s
“undulate” so you can make the logical leap to wave/wavy). Zoe mentions “cirrus
unicus,” also called mares’ tails—this one deriving from “curly hooks.” Hammie comes
back with “cirrocumulus stratiformis”—meaning “stretched out.” They ask, “What
do you think, Dad?” Darryl retreats inside, telling his wife, “Somebody
invented knew kinds of clouds since we were in school.” Wanda adds, “Probably
the same guy who keeps coming up with new ways to confuse me about math.” What
a cool way to introduce kids to science-based Greek and Latin.